How to download books to your Kindle from your computer

December 18, 2008 | 7:55 pm

We had a reader email us and ask us how he could get a TeleRead-mentioned e-book onto his Kindle. In case anyone else would like a tutorial, here’s how to do it.

Download the e-book to your computer. Connect the Kindle to the computer’s USB port. The Kindle will show up as a new drive on your computer. If you have an SD card in the Kindle it will show up as a second new drive. Copy, or drag and drop, the e-book to the Documents directory in the Kindle or SD card. That’s all there is to it. When you disconnect the Kindle the machine will automatically recognize the new book. Be sure not to disconnect the Kindle until the little silver block at the bottom right stops spinning around.

If you use an SD card, you can dispense with all of the above and just remove the SD card from your Kindle and connect it to a card reader and copy the book directly from your PC to the proper directory on the card. The Kindle will recognize the new book when you plug the card back in. To be safe, shut off the Kindle when removing or inserting the card.

Comments:

You can also just email it to your kindle’s address. Although there is mention of a 10 cent charge per email, no one has ever been charged and Kindle support says there are no plans to do so, at this time.

I am a writer. I have two books on Amazon that I have just readied for KIndle. A third book is not yet finished and I wanted to download it to my kindle as well. I dropped the pdf file into the Kindle, got a + sign. Looked good. But it’s not there. Am I tying something that can’t be done?

thankyou …have been very frustrated trying to download books especially as i bought the kindle because i have broken my wrist! thank goodness i can now get reading, your instructions were so straightforward!

I have just purchased a 5-way special offer Kindle. Am have a terrible time trying to down the Bible to my Kindle. Please help. I have tried several suggestions and still do have the Bible on my Kindle.

@Janet: what is the full name of the file you are trying to copy over?
Does it end in “.prc”, “.mobi”, or “.pdf”?
Does the Kindle list it but fail to open?
What computer and OS are you using? Windows XP/Vista/7, MacOS, somethng else?
Usually it is litle details that get in the way, but rest assured it is doable.

@Glenny Trinidad: The subscription you are looking at is to Amazon Prime, Amazon’s premium shipping which lets you access a private library Amazon hosts for those subscribers. It is a Prime bonus unrelated to normal Kindle use.
For normal Kindle use you can buy books from the Kindle website or get books from public libraries, and from other websites that support DRM-free mobi. No added charges.
There are plenty of free ebooks both in the Kindle store and other sites you can ask here or at mobileread.com as well as the Kindle forum at Amazon.
Good luck!

@ Moren -
The .azw file format is proprietary to Amazon. The Kindle is the ONLY e Reader that can recognize this format.
The .mobi format is compatible with the Kindle, as well as other e Readers.

The Calibre software is capable of converting an .azw file into .mobi ( as well as other formats ), however, it is not able to convert any other format into the proprietary .azw format.

As the .azw format is “native” to the Kindle, I’m guessing that if you have the option of obtaining an e Book in this format, that would be the best for use on the Kindle.
( I have found that the .mobi format also works very well on the Kindle )

Hi, I have a problem transfering Books from my PC to Kindle, It has worked previously, I drag and drop from PC to Kindle, and they appear to have transfered over OK, however, when I go to find them in my Kindle they do not appear to be there.
I plug my Kindle back into my PC, open the file, and the books are there, but not in my home page on the Kindle.
Can you help?
Bob

Just browse collection of books on http://books.findpdf.net or use a PDF search engine to download books to kindle or ipad. more books at: http://findpdf.net
To @Moren, for kindle best format is .azw ! Hope this helps!